Le Tour Dispatch: Stage 18

What’s that coming over the hill?

It’s a nice, normal breakaway stage! Who’d have believed it were possible?! In this Tour de France, it seemed that even the precious few stages in which the breakaway were successful couldn’t just be straightforward. After yesterday’s suffer-fest which still ended up having a bit of GC sting in its tail, today proceeded like your absolute classic breakaway day, and lord how we needed it.

Not that it was slow, or dull – far from it! In fact, once again the 'all or nothing' mantra of the 2024 Tour was adhered to, the pace running faster than the fastest predicted time all day, and we finally discovered that this Tour is – so far – the fastest of all time. Even WITH those ultra-slow flat stages.

The break itself took some time to settle, not surprising given the fact that it really was the last chance for many of the riders, and for 50% of the teams at the race who were still without that precious win. But it was a perfectly designed stage for a break, and over the top of the first climb, and down the other side on the descent, a large group coalesced and it was jam-packed with major contenders.

In fact, it was a kind of ‘greatest hits’ breakaway, with plenty of serial offenders among its number – Ben Healy, Richard Carapaz, Oier Lazkano, Valentin Madouas, Tobias Johannessen, Bruno Armirail, plus some new faces – Wout van Aert, Jai Hindley, Michael Matthews and more – a total of 37 riders, until Oscar Onley suffered an unfortunately timed mechanical and gave up the chase to make it 36.

And then lots of kilometres passed by and we didn’t have anything to worry about at all. It was a hot, sultry day in the south-east of France and the riders busied themselves with keeping cool, ice packs frequently replenished and water sprayed over sweaty heads. The GC teams gave the break the space they needed and even the intermediate sprint amounted to nothing, given how many riders were up the road, so Biniam Girmay could take it easy, have his wounded elbow tended to by the medical car, and relax in the knowledge that he was one day closer to sealing the green jersey deal in Nice.

And my goodness, the scenery was to die for – with a serene, settled race situation (Valentin Madouas’ front wheelie scare aside), the directors took the opportunity to broadcast long, lingering shots from the helicopter of the beautiful French landscape and – ah – I’m sighing longingly just remembering it. Allow me to present a choice selection of poor quality screenshots to illustrate the kind of thing I’m talking about.

Anyway, that was all well and good but after we'd all had a chance to take in the views and have a bit of downtime, a bit more action was in order, and with such a large breakaway, the accord couldn’t hold forever. Who else to break it with 65km to go on the penultimate climb, but Ben Healy? The tenacious Irishman riding for an even more tenacious team at this Tour instigated a break within a break, and it all kicked off after that, Healy with repeated attacks, and plenty dropped on the 7km long ascent. It rolled on and on after that, with the same riders attacking over and over, determined to be involved, including Lazkano, Johannessen, and Bart Lemmen, though it appeared the Visma man was doing the work on behalf of his teammate, Wout van Aert.

But when Michal Kwiatkowski attacked at the top of the final climb, and Victor Campanaerts and Matteo Vercher launched across to join him, it became all about the guys who HADN’T spent the last hour attacking one another. The guys who had saved their energy, and timed their attack to perfection. They may have been aided somewhat by the misfortunate of Tobias Johannessen, the rider at the front of the chase, who came down at high speed on the descent – his crash briefly held up the rest of the chase, but briefly may have been all that the trio at the head of the race needed to consolidate their advantage (Johannessen, thankfully, got back on his bike – and somewhat impressively managed to re-join what remained of the breakaway).

From there, it was the temporary team time trial unit versus the rest. A chase group of five riders caught a bad case of group two syndrome, looking at one another and resisting the cohesion that might have seen them close the gap, just as the still-too-large remainder of the original break saw attacks come and go from among their ranks, but nothing that could match the pace of our intrepid leaders.

With Victor Campanaerts, a former time trial specialist and world hour record holder turned classics rider and baroudeur; Michal Kwiatkowski, multiple classics winner, former Tour de France stage winner and former world champion, and Mattéo Vercher, a 23-year-old who is riding his debut Tour this year, the group contained a huge variation in experience, and it was easy to think that as the only rider to have won a Tour stage, Kwiato might have been favourite for the win.

With 15km to go the chase groups had definitely run out of ideas, with no-one willing to take up the chase on behalf of the rest and the parcours unfavourable: a false flat uphill taxing already tired legs and not offering any opportunities for attack.

The lead trio meanwhile all deserved the win, putting in roughly equal work, though Campanaerts was making a show of having a hard time and I half expected him to bonk, buying into what later turned out to be a pantomime, hook line and sinker. He continued to work though, and it would come down to a drag race between the three of them. Vercher went first, but was reeled back in, and it went down to a three-up sprint. Campanaerts unleashed one final huge injection of power and surged clear of the others to take his first Tour de France stage win, and was off the bike for less than a minute before he was on the phone Facetime-ing his newborn son and girlfriend Nel. It was pure and wholesome and just utterly delightful in every way.

Full of emotion and with his trademark honestly, Campanaerts proceeded to deliver a banger of a post-race interview, up there to rival that of Matej Mohorič at around this time in the race last year, emphasizing that these late, last gasp victories are all the sweeter for being so.

The peloton meanwhile, turned in an uncharacteristically chilled performance, rolling in around 14 minutes later, without a pedal-stroke exchanged in anger all day – saving their bullets for the three race-defining days still to come. Because even Tadej can't be 'extra' EVERY day.

More on those who came close, but not quite close enough, in today’s feature below, but for now, I leave you with Victor Campanaerts brilliant post-race interview. 

FEATURE: The Fine Line Between Joy and Despair

“Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” – Vince Lombardi

176 guys start a race, and only one can win.

21 chances to raise your arms at the greatest race of them all. But take out sprints, and time trials, and nailed on GC days, and you’ve got, by this Tour de France’s reckoning at least, just five chances to show yourself, and roll the dice in the hope that you can be one of the lucky few.

In his heartfelt post-race interview today, Victor Campanaerts revealed that stage 18 of this year’s Tour was one that he’d been targeting since way back in December, as ‘the only opportunity I saw for me to win’ and looking at the profiles of the other stages that have been won from the break, you have to admit, he has a point.

For Campanaerts then, the choice was already made as to which stage he would target – after that, he had to rely on his team, his talent and his tactical nous to get him to the right place at the right time; alongside trusting the universe to deliver him through all manner of potential obstacles and external factors beyond his control. He played his cards and made it clear with two other riders, and the trio formed a team time trial of brothers in arms for the final portion of the race, accepting the 3-to-1 odds that were better than 37-to-1, if they could unite and pool their resources. All this, knowing that only one of them could take the glory back to their loved ones, their teammates, and to the history books and their own palmares where ‘Tour de France stage winner’ would be writ large in indelible ink, forever.

The tears of joy that poured forth from Campanaerts were starkly mirrored in the tears of the two riders who came desperately close, but missed out at the last moment. Michal Kwiatkowski, whose palmares already boasts some of the biggest victories a rider could hope for, including a stage of the Tour, lamented his loss in the same manner, though he later took to social media to offer a light-hearted take on his disappointment, like a true gent.

And a debutant, 23-year-old Matteo Vercher, one of a quartet of riders from TotalEnergies who, having already won a stage through Anthony Turgis, were throwing everything at their final chance on the road. A rider who’s been out in the breakaway before, taking one for the team on one of the long flat sprint stages and winning the combativity prize for his efforts, today, went as close as you can come to winning at the Tour de France, but he will leave empty handed. As he sank to the ground and sobbed, a little piece of my heart went with him. How can one sport be so beautiful, and yet so cruel?

Vercher was riding for his life today. He fought to hold the wheel at times when it seemed he wouldn’t be able to hang on any more under the sustained tempo of the two more experienced men. He pulled on the front and didn’t try to skip a turn, even though he would have been arguably justified in doing so later on in the stage, as the ;least likely to' among the three. He did his fair share and when he launched with a kilometre to go, it felt doomed – it wouldn't have been unexpected to see him dropped after that final effort, and to go down to a two-up sprint between the Pole and the Belgian. Not so. He lined up alongside them as they opened their sprints and had enough left to give that he finished in second place. In the moment, it probably felt like the lanterne rouge.

It’s even more impressive given the way Vercher started his day: crashing in the neutralised zone, colliding with the metal barriers at the side of the road and ending up on the ground. The evidence remained in his torn shorts, proof, if it were needed, that he is made of stern stuff.

The pain of this defeat may remain with Vercher for some time, but in coming so close to a stage victory on his debut Tour, hopefully in time he will be able to take the positives and move forward – a ride that gutsy, and a reaction that strong, is a sure sign of a rider who wants to win, and one day, perhaps in ten years when he is a wily veteran like Campanaerts and Kwiato - or if he plays his cards right, perhaps sooner - the day will be his. In the meantime, he needs a long hot bath and a good cuddle.

The emotions, both positive and negative, were clearly exacerbated today by the ‘last chance saloon’ nature of the stage. It really was all or nothing, for so many riders. And only one could have it all. Sadly for Kwiatkowski and Vercher, today wasn't their day. For Vercher, though, one of the new names to enter our consciousness at this year's race, such a worthy ride will have him on many people's radars, and if it can be any consolation, he won a new fan in me today - and I know I'm not alone.

Stage 19: Embrun - Isola 2000

About tomorrow...

1-1-1 Things of the Tour de France

by Mathieu Fraisse

one food, one fact and one local rider, for every place on edition 111 of Le Tour

1 food: lavender

Okay, it's not technically a food and you'll receive judging glances if you are seen in public chomping on plain lavender.

But lavender is inseparable from Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and we might see some beautiful fields on tomorrow's stage coverage.

And lavender is used in many sweet recipes in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence cuisine, most notably ice cream and sweets.

If you're ever around Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, especially in Valensole, do not miss it!

1 rider: Julien El Farès

Born in Manosque, you couldn't find a more local rider than the former EF man. 

A Tirreno stage win in 2009 as a main feat, Julien rode for Cofidis, Delko and spent his final season at EF before retiring, only his second season as a World Tour rider, at 36 years old! 

There's no doubt the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence roads hold no secrets for this local rider!

1 fact: a night in the trees…

But not how you think! Two Belgians tourists on holiday had a rather odd encounter during a hike: a wild boar!

Even if it's forbidden here, the two lads decided to go wild camping and set a campfire in the forest. During the night, a wild boar, intrigued by the camp, decided to visit them. But not in a friendly way...

Frightened by the aggressive behaviour of the animals, the two Belgians decided to retreat at the top of a nearby tree and call the police.

The animal eventually decided to flee before the arrival of the police. The police still came and fined the Belgian boys twice - one for the campfire and one for the wild camping. What a night!

STAGE PREVIEW

This beast of a stage doesn't pull any punches - with around 58km of climbing, and long, arduous slogs at that, it's the opportunity that the GC men have been waiting for to really test their mettle, and their legs. The heat may have a part to play, as will demon descending skills, but with a summit finish at Isola 2000 in addition to two monstrous hors categorie ascents, there will be nowhere to hide tomorrow in the Alps, and it's highly likely that Tadej Pogačar will look to strike a final blow and put the GC out of sight - how his two main rivals will respond, will be fascinating to watch.

WBR Team Predictions:

Mathieu: Romain Bardet

Sam, Katy: Tadej Pogačar

Stine: Jonas Vingegaard

Until tomorrow, au revoir!